Tuesday morning. I wake up as per usual; slightly groggy, very dry. After going through my routine I wait on the 50th floor for the monorail, and spend my commute reading emails, surprisingly. Mind-numbing boredom aside, it's probably better for me to do this than anything else during the commute. It doesn't feel better, but the boss likes to encourage productivity whenever possible. Not like clearing out my inbox will earn me a promotion, but it's a start.

I get to the office and slide into my desk chair. Clocking in is automatic, since the doors scan our biometrics on the way in and out; late/early pay changes don't get applied unless someone manually reviews the logs, due to groups within the company like the Survey Team having different rules for their work hours. It's all very complicated, and I'm glad I'm not the one dealing with the technology for that.  

What else is there to explain… work is just more and more spreadsheets, like always. My fingers start to hurt from typing so much. I stretch my hands; feeling the knuckles crack as they expel the gases within the spaces of each joint, I think a college lecturer of mine called it "cavitation". Cartilage, synovial fluid, joint cavity. Meaningless phrases flow back into my mind. I amuse myself by thinking about what they used to mean, if I can remember.

See, there are two parts to the human skeleton, the axial and appendicular portions. The axial skeleton is all the important bits like the skull, spine, and ribcage — these parts are in the middle, so they form the "axis" of the body. The appendicular skeleton is all the extra peripherals on the side, from the pelvis to the shoulderblades, arms, and legs; all the things you could probably live without. The different parts of the skeleton have different types of common joints; the more stable ones are less free to move, and from the center (the axial skeleton) moving outward they get less stable and more mobile as you approach the appendicular skeleton. Synarthroses in the center, amphiarthroses as you move outward, and diarthroses on the edges, also known as synovial joints. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could move my joints right now…

All synovial joints have certain features in common with each other: the articular cartilage, the articular capsule (composed of a fibrous layer and synovial membrane) and a joint cavity containing synovial fluid. Articular cartilage is a specialized type of the connective tissue type of hyaline cartilage; it functions like a cover for the legs of a table — protecting bones from rubbing against each other by reducing friction, and supporting heavy loads for long periods of time. The synovial fluid lubricates the inside of the surrounding joint capsule and cavity and the surface of the cartilage and… The inner layer of the articular capsule is the synovial membrane, which is made of synoviocytes, cells that excrete some of the components of synovial fluid… oh, and some other cells inside, but the point is it has a good blood supply, compared to the fibrous layer outside. Right, the capsule’s outer layer is the fibrous layer, continuous with the periosteum (outer layer of connective tissue surrounding a bone)… it’s not very well supplied with blood, but has lots of nerves, which is why it hurts a lot around the joints all the time like it does for me right fucking now.

I finish a couple more spreadsheets in the time I spend thinking about my bones and organs. Shit, this is so damn boring! I might as well fall asleep at this desk; hopefully I'll wake up at the end of the day exactly when it's time to go home, with no one the wiser about my bout of narcolepsy. 

I need to hang out with other people more often, I swear. Developing communication skills is one of the most important things in the corporate world. I mean, I’m nice enough to everyone, sure… but I haven’t made “friends” since first grade at least. My coworkers don’t count; Leon, Vita, Anis… the Survey Team guys, they’re coworkers, too, and I don’t know them that well. Lysander, maybe? He’s cool, but I don’t want his town to get overrun with monsters again. I’d just end up distracting him from his job and/or creeping him out.

The computer clock reads 12:30 PM, which seems like a good time to take my lunch break. I save my files and head upstairs to see if I can find a breakroom — but, out of some unconscious habit, I find myself returning to the Survey Team's preparation station on floor 21.

Ha! What kind of habit forms in one day; a single day from a whole week ago, no less? Haha, who knows. Somewhere deep down, I guess I just wanted to come back here and escape from the slog of my everyday life. In the prep area is a little kitchen and a row of lockers for gear storage, but other than those and the changing room/shower facilities there's nothing very interesting around here.   

Oh fuck, the communicator device… I left it in the supply bag when I returned it the other day. I hope Lysander didn’t call. It’d be so awkward if someone else picked up. No, does he even know how to use the comms device?

Luckily, all the supplies are untouched. I don’t think anyone noticed the missing communicator. I’ll have to get him to return it next time I see him. When am I gonna see him next? He probably doesn’t want to, considering the way I left. That was pretty rude, actually. I’d better call him up and apologize.

I find the pack I used on Friday and hit up Lysander, turning the dial on my communication device to receive the right signal.

“Hello hello, you there? Lysander?” I call out.

There’s some shuffling noises coming from the other end of the line, but at last someone responds. “Yes, is that you, Sir Clark?”

Sweet, he knows how to use it. Wait, how, though? I didn’t see anything electrical or mechanical in Lothariton.

“You’re a fast learner,” I compliment him. “I’m surprised you got through without me telling you how to operate it.”

“Ah, it’s no problem. There are only so many ways this device can be used, even if I can’t read the language.”

Here’s my chance. “You wanna learn the language, right?”

“Of course! I enjoy the pursuit of knowledge.”

This should be a good opportunity. I’ll kill two birds with one stone… just have to pick my words right.

“Then, um, you should come over, you know, so you can get some hands-on experience.”

“Sir Clark, you want me to visit your world? Again, so soon? Whatever for?”

Damn, he’s actually suspicious of me now. What the hell can I say to sound convincing? “I just, uh… I think you should see more of it. So you can get used to it.” 

“Ah, you want me to become accustomed to the new environment. Is that all?”

Damn. I can’t stop stuttering. “Well, I mean… I kinda need the communicator thing back, sorry. I was only borrowing it, so it wasn’t really mine to give away…”

“Hah! At least you came out with the truth eventually.” His tone sounds a little warmer than before. I think that’s good. “I will return it to you forthwith.”

“So it’s settled, then? When are you dropping by?”

“Mmm… I shall begin preparing tomorrow; if I depart tomorrow night, I should hope to arrive overmorrow morn.”

“Okay, great. Thursday lunch sound good?”

“A luncheon? Sure. I have no qualms with that.” 

“Cool, see you then.”

I hang up and put the comms device away. Good, seems like something’s working out for me at least. I buy a protein bar from a vending machine on the way back to my desk, and eat it as I hunch over another round of spreadsheets. 

Eventually, the working day comes to an end. Out of curiosity, I run some simulations once I finish all my work. Every computer at the office has some kind of simulation software; it came free in a package with all the other software we use. One of the more important uses of the simulation software is calculating an estimated timeframe for world mergers. Although I personally don’t use the simulation software often, I know the basics from other work I’ve done around the place before. I know that merging can take up to a month depending on the size of the world; Lysander’s world seemed pretty big, considering Lothariton was considered a “stinking backwater” or whatever he said the King thought of it. I mean, they have a whole capital city, which implies other countries exist… I don’t know that much about politics, so I could be wrong.

I plug the data into the simulation, taking pains to type in the correct world-number (95086). The simulations finish a lot quicker than I thought they would; the average estimated time, is, also, a lot smaller than I thought it would be. In rare cases, something as huge as 95086 would take multiple months… but these simulations all say it’ll only take a week to merge with the Patchworld.

Haha, there’s no way all that can be done in a week. Maybe I typed it in wrong? Best not to question the numbers, I guess.